The World's Biggest Apocalypse Game!

Hey folks!

I have a special treat for you here today. Alec Peters offered me some fantastic content from his neck of the woods. It seems he likes big games of 40k. Since apocalypse is something I rarely get involved with, I figured this would be a great opportunity to bring you something different. Check out these fantastic pictures!  Yes, that said 67K points of IG.  Holy Guacamole! Lets look in the future for Alec to add more coverage of what appear to be some huge Apocalypse events in LA.  Great Stuff!  Are we gonna see a battle report on this record setting game Alec?

Jawaballs

The Big Game set-up at the L.A. GW Battle Bunker

Hey all,  I'm Alec Peters from Apocalypse40K.com, and a new contributor to Jawaballs excellent blog. A dedicated Imperial player, I pretty much only play Apocalypse and run SoCal Apocalypse, one of the biggest Apocalypse clubs, based out of the Los Angeles Games Workshop Battle Bunker. 

On January 22nd, we held The Big Game, which we billed as the largest Apocalypse game ever, and it was!  Over 860,000 points made their way to the Games Workshop Los Angeles Battle Bunker, and over 2.3 million points were played in 22 locations world wide in 5 countries!

In Los Angeles, the game kicked off at 11am and ended at 11:30pm.  There were two tables, one for painted models and one for unpainted.  But saying there were two tables is a bit misleading.  The "painted" table was actually 18 tables put together in a massive 4-legged "M" shape.  The unpainted models were relegated to 3 8' tables put together. 

Now, this was the first time this event was held at the bunker, but it will be an annual event.  Originally the event was to be a challenge match between the apocalypse group at a local game shop and SoCal Apocalypse.  But when that group backed out, the idea of breaking the world record for the biggest Apocalypse game and battle was hatched.

Then, we started getting other GW Battle Bunkers and other stores around the world involved.  In the end we had 22 locations in 5 countries:  The US, UK, Greece, Norway and Australia!  All the games were played by the same scoring rules and so the objective points were all combined to have one big winner!

There are Apocalypse World Records?

There sure are!  Siegeworld, a St. Louis-based Apocalypse club, who pioneered very large games, has been keeping records of events of this scale.  Before The Big Game, Siegeworld noted:

The record for the Biggest Apocalypse Game was 382,000 by Siegeworld, St. Louis, MO.    (This is for one table or playing surface, 4 turns and all painted models.)

The record for the Biggest Apocalypse Battle was 520,000 by GMI games, Riverside, CA.   (This is for multiple tables, any turn length, and non-painted models are OK.)

The record for the most miniatures in a single battle was 6,500 by Siegeworld, St. Louis, MO.   

The Records were blown away!

The Big Game, Los Angeles location blew away all these records!

Total painted points on one table: 735,636.    A new record for the world's biggest Apocalypse GAME.

Total points on two tables: 860,446.  A new record for the world's biggest Apocalypse BATTLE.

Total number of miniatures:  17,541.  A new record for most miniatures in a single battle.

Plus we established a new record for the World's Biggest Apocalypse Battle - Multiple Locations. 2,307,224 points!

All players submitted both registration forms and army lists.  So we have back up for these records.  When doing a world record attempt, we think keeping good records and making everyone submit an army list is important.

World Wide Results

Overall, the Imperium defeated the Xenos forces 407 to 331.  So the Universe is safe for democracy!  Well.....safe to be ruled by a guy on a Golden Throne at least :-)

We learned a lot from putting this game on.  It was a huge effort and next year we may move to another location to hit our goal of one million points.  And while we had to use 4' wide tables this time, next year we want to use 6' and 8' wide tables to give more maneuvering room.   But overall, it was quite a spectacle and there were a lot of very happy gamers who had a ton of fun.

And so here are some photos!

Wayne Clark's Imperial Guard army at 67,000 points dominated 3 tables!

An awesome Warlord Titan

I got to play as well!  Here I am on the left with a true gentleman of the game, John Tiehen who's two sons played as well! 

Annibal Sanchez (behind his Chaos Warhound) is one of the nicest guys in the game

Ron Kent, Shawn Green, and multiple Golden Daemon winner Aaron Lovejoy

We had TWO Forgeworld Imperial Fortress Walls on hand!

If you want more details on The Big Game, or want to join in an Apocalypse discussion, join the Apocalypse40K forums at www.apocalypse40K.com.   You can also follow the Apocalypse blog at http://apocalypse40k.blogspot.com/

I will have more Apocalypse articles here on Jawaballsblog soon.  Next up, The Blood Angels Apocalypse Formations!

Alec

Templecon!

Hey Folks! Jawaballs here:

This was originally supposed to be posted up on BOLS but it seems to have been lost in the queue. So I am posting it up here first!  I normally don't like to double post here and on BOLS so if you see it go up there, sorry! Articles like this are sort of time reliant since if you wait too long after the event the buzz already dies down before the article goes up.  Some of this has already been covered such as the stuff about Stanton, but I copied the article in it's entirety for the sake of convenience. Plus, people have been asking for my performance report in the Templecon 1850 tournament. Enjoy! Jawaballs

This weekend (2/4/2011) I had the nice experience of being surprised by a gaming event.  I went out to Warwick, Rhode Island to play in an 1850 40k tournament at Templecon and was completely unprepared for what I saw.  More on the tournament in a bit.

My friend Jim and I walked into the hotel to find what could only be described as a modernized Victorian street fair, complete with busting corsets and Tie Fighter Pilots! Welcome to Steam Punk Jawaballs.  It seems Steam Punk is a style of dress that fusions Victorian style with mechanical workings and neo modern accessories.  One guy was dressed like a British safari expedition leader, but was carrying a laser pistol.  Lots of other people had brass looking goggles with gothic accessories and Victorian dresses.  Pretty cool.  Unfortunately I had little time to experience the entire seen as I arrived later than I wanted to, had to deal with getting checked in and finding out that my reservation was actually made for the night before, had to make a new res at a nearby Holiday Inn, had to go get checked in, and then had to teach my friend Jim how to play 40k.  (Yes I brought a buddy who had never played a full game of 40k to a competitive tournament. Trial by fire.)

What I did see of it was gaming, gaming and more gaming.  They had tournaments for FoW, Magic, Hordes... pretty much every game you could think of. They had huge rooms devoted to table top board games, D&D, etc.  In fact, you could not walk 10 feet without tripping over a group of gamers playing some role playing game or a couple of Steam Punk hotties posing for pictures. If only I had more time and my good camera.

So I apologize to the Templecon guys because had I realized it was such a huge, fantastic event, I would have gone for the entire thing and covered it in style.  I promise that next year I will be there in full force and do a real article on it. For now, enjoy a few pictures from the Templecon site, and look forward to next years coverage!

Steam Punk Karaoke?

Way cool.

So that's what happened to DJ Jazzy Jeff!

Oh well, on with the tournament review.

Templecon had a lot of 40k events. It started with a doubles tournament on Friday, and a huge no force org 2500 point tournament on Friday Night.  Then on Saturday they ran an ETC style team tournament, won by Alex Fenel and his CT club team.  Those dudes are hard core!  Here is a picture of their trophy:

Sweet!

I have to admit I am jealous. That trophy would look fantastic on my shelf!  Notice my destroyed Storm Raven sitting right next to it.  I almost go to play on their team too.  Battle For Salvation was unable to muster a team to go, so maybe next year Alex will extend me an invite!  

On with why I was there.  I went out just to play in the 40k 1850 singles tournament and to drink beer.  The tournament started at 6 and ran well into the night. (I think we got to bed at 3am.)  And yes, beer was drank. 

So about my friend Jim.  This guy is a gamer and model painter, but had never played a full game of 40k.  I got him into it by showing him my stuff from my after school club. He is also a teacher at my school.  I designed a competitive 1850 Space Marine list for him, and he got the models and painted them up.  Sadly I did not get a picture of the army.  But I will be writing an article about it on my blog soon.  

Trial by fire:

I dragged Jim out to this tournament having only been able to show him the basic workings of the game.  Before round one I had a couple hours to brief him on ways to deal with other armies, and how to play the Nova format, which is definitely more advanced than the tiny bit of experience he had with the rule book missions.  I warned him, be prepared for a good solid ass kicking.  And game one certainly was not kind to him.  He played a fellow Blood Angels player Bill, whom I met at Mechanicon and Battle for Salvation. I asked Bill to be kind and he winked and nodded.  An hour later I looked over and Jim was gone down to the bar. Bill had tabled him.  Way to be kind buddy! :)  

But Jim fought on!  Luckily for him the solid beating left him at the bottom of the list, and up against a Tau army played by a guy who was also very new.  Jim discovered the pleasures of close combat against non marine armies, and a single Legion of The Damned sgt. killed no less than 44 fire warriors.  Jim got a win, and went on to play a decent Black Templar player with two full games under his belt, and managed to sculpt out another victory.  I have to say this is nothing less than outstanding!  The man went 2-1 in his first 3 games of 40k ever, all the more surprising since it was done in a competitive atmosphere.  Could it be the teacher?  :)

On with my games:

Game one: Blood Angels vs Dark Eldar

I found myself up against a DE player who seemed to be a 3rd or 4th ed player newly returned to 40k.  Maybe the new codex brought him out of retirement.  He had mostly new models and they were beautiful. (He won best painted.)  He had 4 or 5 raiders, two Talos pain engines, some named character with a 2+ invul, lots of warriors and wychs, some reavers and the shirtless guys in khaki pants with glowing hands.  

What was I running?  Ever attempting to stay ahead of the meta game, I switched up my list heavily. I was anticipating army after army filled with razorbacks, auto/las preds and rifleman dreads.  A trend admittedly fostered in part by yours truly with a big dose of Stelek.  Inspried by a game in which my Land Raider Crusader went wild against an army using mostly auto cannon dreads and no Melta, I decided to go with three land raiders and a Storm raven. I played two god hammers and one crusader. Inside the crusader I had a 10 man assault squad with chap, priest, PW and Melta.  The other two raiders housed naked 5 man squads.  The raven carried Mephiston and a furioso dread with blood talons.  

On with the game!

So my opponent went first and started off by popping one of my god hammers with a lance. But this would be just about all the destruction he would muster the entire game.  The Storm Raven turbo boosted 24 and popped a raider, pinning the guys inside. Next turn I assaulted them with the dread, killing them all, while Mephiston who was short on his own assault, braced for impact. On my opponent's turn he assaulted Meph with his named character, a talos engine and a squad of Incubi after a lot of shooting.  Meph killed the engine and a good number of the incubi but went down.  But the damage was being dealt by my dread, crusader, godhammer and the raven.  The flyer alone accounted for 3 dead raiders and a bunch of dead incubi. My opponent knew what he was doing, but I think failed to fully grasp the subtle nuances of 5th ed and the Nova format.  At the end of the game which ended on turn five I was holding more objectives then he was.  Once his lances were dead the rest of my raiders proved hard to kill indeed.

Game Two:

I got to play a guy named Roger who was thrilled to get a chance to throw down with Jawaballs.  He was playing a big bug army with lots of the big guys, some gargoyles and 30 stealers.  The mission was KP and the deployment was spearhead. I won the roll, took the choicest side that gave him the least amount of cover, and he failed to seize.  

Roger tries to muster his bugs

Land Raider Crusader draws a bead on a big bug.

And there is Sean Nayden in the background. Die Sean Die.

(sorry these are the last of my pics)

With an apology and a smile, I began destroying bugs that were unable to get cover saves and Genestealers who came out of reserve to try to assault Land Raiders.  Mephiston cut them down while big bugs exploded from afar.  After just a couple rounds the game was over.  If Roger tried to advance the bugs they undoubtedly ended up in open terrain eating Las, or being intercepted by Mephiston and the Furioso Dread. I jumped out to an early lead in KP which put the ball entirely in my court, never to even bounce in his. But not all games are about winning and losing. Roger and I had a great time. We joked and bantered, he was in good spirits despite losing bugs in droves, we shared some Captain Morgans and enjoyed ourselves.  Later I bought him a beer.  Had the circumstances been reversed I would still say that these are the kinds of games I go to these tournaments for.  Good laughs, and new friends.  See you next time Roger!

Game Three:

After the severe beating I handed Roger I ended up on the number one table playing for all the mustard. My opponent? Jeff from Battle for Salvation.  He was playing Blood Angels with 2 ravens, filled with DC dreads, astrorath, a chaplain and DC.  He also had two TL Las Razors with naked squads and a squad of scout bikers with melta gun.  Brutal and effective.  He won the roll to go first and lined me up for his alpha strike.  Drat.

But I survived with minimal losses!  He destroyed my Raven on the first shot, and took the ass can off my crusader.  I disembarked my 10 man RAS and moved my dread and meph into position to take down his raven holding a DC dread, astro and 5 DC with PWs.  The bikers took losses and failed leadership, running back from shoting, and I killed the raven, but was unable to assault his boys.  Astro and the DC went after my 10 man squad while he sent the dread after Mephiston. Meph got the jump on the dread and cut it in half, but all 10 of the assault marines would die. I should have left them in the transport.  But thats ok, Meph and my furioso jumped in to save my chaplain for a turn, killed Astro and the DC and cleared up my zone for the time being.  

On his turn he killed my dread with Las fire and moved up his second raven.  Meph was down to two wounds at this point and my chaplain was dead.  Meph took a wound by rolling box cars for his jump pack, and was forced to hide for a round instead of going out to kill.  I started shooting at and killed both of his Razorbacks.  

His second Storm Raven killed one of my god hammers and the other got immobilized.  But I took it down, leaving him with 5 DC and a chaplain. I just remembered that he should have been moving his DC models due to the Rage rule. Oh well!  I don't know if that would have changed any thing other than forcing him to move out his Death Company instead of using them to actually claim a corner. They hid behind the dead raven. (Victory points claimed corners, the unit need not be scoring.) He had some tactical marines from inside the razorbacks hanging around. 

On to the end game:

We were playing for table quarters, and you had to have 100 more victory points in a corner than your opponent. I tried to go kill his dread but Meph rolled box cars again on Str 10 sword and died before even getting into grips.  I claimed two corners and he had three tactical marines totaling 100 victory points in one, and his DC squad and dread in another. Creating a draw. All I had to do was kill one of the 3 marines with my land raider crusader shooting and I would have won the game.  I caused five wounds on the last shots of the game, and he had to make 4 armor and a cover save... he made them all.  Blammo. Draw, with a minor victory going to me because I held a secondary objective.  

It was a bloody, fun and exciting game. The essence of what 40k is all about!  

I ended up taking 4th overall, while my friend Jim got 6th overall and 2nd best sportsman.  Fun tournament and well worth the two hour drive!

So that wraps up Templecon 2011. Next year Fritz and I will definitely be in attendance and I will be taking part in all of the 40k events.  But more importantly, I will be able to take in more of the scene in general, cover some of the Steam Punk events, enjoy some of the presenters and have more of a complete gaming experience.  

Hope you enjoyed reading my article!  Be sure to CHECK OUT MY BLOG for pics of Jim's Ultramarines and more on other projects I have in the works.

Jawaballs

List Crunching Help!

Here is something for all you list crunchers!  I recently received this novel of an email and thought I would kick it out to all you who love working on lists.

Hi,
    I am playing a few 2k points against mostly vanilla marines, (they like lots of named characters, drop podded sterngaurd
with combi plasma/meltas).  I am running through a few list variations, trying to incorporate the deathstar approach...  any help
would be great...  I have a few weeks to work on it, but would like a fresh set of eyes...  Any feedback about which list you like best
would be helpful...


List 1


HQ: Reclusiarch (1#, 165 pts)
1 Reclusiarch, 0 pts
1 ...in Terminator Armour, 165 pts = (base cost 160 + Combi-Meltagun 5)

HQ: Librarian (1#, 125 pts)
1 Librarian, 0 pts
1 ...in Terminator Armour, (might of heros, shield of sang.)

Elite: Terminator Assault Squad (10#, 435 pts)
2 Terminator with Lightning Claws
7 Terminator with Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield
1 Sergeant, Lightning Claws

Elite: Sanguinary Priest (3#, 245 pts)
1 Sanguinary Priest in Power Armour, Jump Pack
2 Sanguinary Priest in Terminator Armour

Troops: Assault Squad (10#, 235 pts)
7 Assault Squad
2 Assault Marine with Meltagun
1 Sergeant, Power Fist

Troops: Assault Squad (11#, 250 pts)
7 Assault Squad
2 Assault Marine with Meltagun
1 Sergeant, Power Fist x1
1 Rhino,

Fast Attack: Baal Predator (1#, 145 pts)
1 Baal Predator Heavy Bolter

Heavy Support: Stormraven Gunship (1#, 200 pts)
1 Stormraven Gunship, 200 pts (TL multimelta, TL auto canon)

Heavy Support: Stormraven Gunship (1#, 200 pts)
1 Stormraven Gunship, 200 pts (TL multimelta, TL laser)


The idea is to combat squad the termies, giving each group a HQ and a terminator Sang. Priest;
these are each placed into a stormraven. The troops follow behind to assist assaults and claim objectives.


LIST # 2



2000 Pts - Blood Angels Roster

HQ: Librarian (1#, 125 pts)

1 ...in Terminator Armour (might of heros, shield of sang.)

: Land Raider Crusader (1#, 260 pts)
1 Land Raider Crusader, Multi-Melta

: Grey Knight Hero (6#, 425 pts)
1 Grand Master [OM], Psycannon Bolts
5 GK Terminator retinue(s) [OM], Incinerator

Elite: Sanguinary Priest (3#, 235 pts)
1 Sanguinary Priest in Power Armour Jump Pack
1 Sanguinary Priest in Power Armour Jump Pack
1 Sanguinary Priest in Terminator Armour

Troops: Assault Squad (10#, 235 pts)
7 Assault Squad
1 Assault Marine with Meltagun
1 Assault Marine with Meltagun
1 Sergeant Power Fist

Troops: Assault Squad (10#, 225 pts)
7 Assault Squad
1 Assault Marine with Meltagun,
1 Assault Marine with Meltagun,
1 Sergeant Power Weapon

Troops: Assault Squad (11#, 250 pts) (jump packs removed)
7 Assault Squad
1 Assault Marine with Meltagun,
1 Assault Marine with Meltagun,
1 Sergeant Power Fist
1 Rhino

Fast Attack: Attack Bikes (2#, 100 pts)
2 attack bikes with multimeltas

Fast Attack: Baal Predator (1#, 145 pts)
1 Baal Predator, Heavy Bolter



LIST 3:

Total Roster Cost: 2000

HQ: Reclusiarch (1#, 165 pts)
1 Reclusiarch, 0 pts
1 ...in Terminator Armour, Combi-Meltagun

HQ: Librarian (1#, 125 pts)
1 Librarian, 0 pts
1 ...in Terminator Armour, (might of heros, shield of sang.)

Elite: Terminator Assault Squad (10#, 435 pts)
2 Terminator with Lightning Claws
7 Terminator with Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield
1 Sergeant, Lightning Claws

Elite: Sanguinary Priest (3#, 245 pts)
1 Sanguinary Priest in Power Armour, Jump Pack
2 Sanguinary Priest in Terminator Armour

Troops: Assault Squad (10#, 235 pts)
7 Assault Squad
2 Assault Marine with Meltagun
1 Sergeant, Power Fist

Death Company (395)
5 Death Co, 1 power fist, 2 power swords in
1 Land Raider Redeemer

Heavy Support: Stormraven Gunship (1#, 200 pts)
1 Stormraven Gunship, 200 pts (TL multimelta, TL auto canon)

Heavy Support: Stormraven Gunship (1#, 200 pts)
1 Stormraven Gunship, 200 pts (TL multimelta, TL laser)




LIST 4

1998 Pts - Blood Angels Roster

HQ: Librarian (1#, 125 pts)
1 Librarian; Shield of Sanguinius; Unleash Rage; in Terminator Armour

Elite: Terminator Assault Squad (6#, 470 pts)
4 Terminator with Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield
1 Sergeant (Lightning Claws (pair))
1 Land Raider Redeemer; Multi-Melta; 2x Flamestorm Cannons; Twin Linked Assault Cannon

Troops: Death Company (6#, 405 pts)
1 Lemartes
2 Death Company Jump Pack; Bolt Pistol; Power Weapon
1 Death Company Jump Pack; Bolt Pistol; Chainsword
2 Death Company Jump Pack; Power Fist

Troops: Death Company Dreadnought (1#, 125 pts)
1 Death Company Dreadnought, Blood Talon with Meltagun; Blood Talon with Storm Bolter

Troops: Assault Squad (7#, 163 pts)
4 Assault Squad
1 Assault with Flamer
1 Sergeant Melta Bombs, powersword
1 Razorback with TL Heavy Bolter

Troops: Assault Squad (6#, 180 pts)
4 Assault Squad
1 Sergeant with powerfist
1 Razorback, Lascannon and TL Plasmagun

Troops: Assault Squad (6#, 180 pts)
4 Assault Squad
1 Sergeant with powerfist
1 Razorback, Lascannon and TL Plasmagun

Heavy Support: Stormraven Gunship (1#, 200 pts)
1 Stormraven Gunship, Twin Linked Assault Cannon; Twin Linked MultiMelta (Death Co and Dread in raven)

Heavy Support: Vindicator (1#, 150 pts)
1 Vindicator, Dozer Blade


Thank you for your time,


Bryan Edward Kentner, DPM




Have at it guys!  I will chime in with my own input once I have digested it all. :)


Jawaballs

More Feast of Blades banner progress

Today's Progress

Today I made some good progress on the Feast of Blades banner.  I put the words on the banner at the top, and started laying in the illustration on the shield.  First the words.

The first thing I did was redraw the scroll I had painted on white paper so that I could make attempts at drawing the letters. I don't have much rhyme or reason in my letter designs. They are loosely based on the lettering that appears in GW 40k banners like The Blood Angels ones that I have created.  You can see a couple attempts I made at getting the proper size and shape.  Then it was a matter of drawing them onto the real banner, and painting them black.  Of all the parts of these banners, the lettering is the most time consuming because they have to be perfect. They are some of the things people grasp onto the most when viewing the finished work so get the most scrutiny.  

Finally, I started laying a yellow ochre boarder around the edge. You can see it at the top. This will separate the image from the black canvas banner.  I might have to go enter the Feast of Blade just to get a chance to win back this banner!

Jawaballs

The Best Chairty Event Ever!

Hey all, Kevin here checking in again and this time to talk about the next big way to game for charity. This past weekend was TempleCon and the club I am in ran all of the 40k events by ourselves. One of the events was a Doubles tournament to raise money for charity. It was a basic idea, 1250 points per player with a shared force org chart and some wacky missions but curveballs started to appear everywhere in what was probably the most fun anyone playing had in their time as addicts of our plastic crack love.

This is how my day went. I woke up for the event that started just before noon and walked into our place at the Con in the lower levels. It was nice to have a room to ourselves full of different tables and some awesome themed tables such as an ice world and a Mayan jungle scene but all meant for tournament play. Anyway the first curve ball was already known, for one dollar towards charity you could buy a token that allowed you to reroll any dice roll in the game! I was at the victim to this many a times. The first round for instance one of my club members playing me rerolled a save against a freaking shaken result on his stormraven 7 times! This would be a hard fought fight with shenanigans plentiful. Speaking of shenanigans it was announced for $5 you could buy an orbital bombardment on any table in the tournament! This was used very successfully by some players all ganging up to take out certain vehicles or just to retaliate on some of their buddies for a past game defeat! Think about some random template coming from some Nid player 4 tables down you played the previous round and all he had to do was yell “SHENANIGANS!” during his shooting phase? My first game saw one player buy 5 or 6 of these bombardments for people all to fire on one player’s army as a joke! It also saw over 100 reroll tokens being used against me. This got my buddy Marcus and I so into the game we went and bought our own reroll tokens just to combat such tom foolery and strike back. We ended up losing our first game just 11-10! It was one of the best games I have ever been able to play in.
The next game saw Marcus and I against a Tau and Blood Angels player I also played in the singles tournament. We ended up cornering them and leaving them to our combined bloodbride and Genestealer havoc around a Mayan Temple! Also after each round there was a raffle you could buy tickets for and some awesome terrain, models and even a 3000 point expertly painted Chaos Marines army was given away as a main prize! I myself won two Spawn figures. This all added to the fun.

Round three saw the Dark Eldar and Nid forces against a duel C’tan front. We lost a very close game again but killed the Nightbringer. This round saw the owner of our clubs FLGS call in a bounty of a gift certificate to the store for whomever could kill the storm raven of Dean, the guy I played in the first round. Lets just say a lot of orbital bombardments came down on that model before it died.

All in all we had an awesome time and ended up, in a short period of time full of fun and shenanigans, raising over $700 for the Rhode Island Food Bank! Such a feat was not possible without the work of the event organizer, Dean, and the rest of the 40k organizers. It was a good idea to raise money for a good cause and everyone had so much fun in the process of the 3 rounds. I hope other organizer take initiative and have events like this before their events for a good cause. =)

As always, more on this later…….

Signing out, Kevinmcd28

40k Model Review- Blood Angels Stormraven!

MBG here with my review of the new Stormraven, which I found to be very innovative and daringly designed.

Like it or love it the new kit is here. I started right in on the assembly, after we got our black box in (containing the Furioso, and the Stormraven), and I had a field day with this thing.

If you are in the market for some Stormraven bits, checkout the Spikey Bits Online Store.

New player profile: My friend Jim Stanton

1850 Ultramarines

Now that I got the eye candy out of the way, here is his list.  

Chaplain with Plasma Pistol

Librarian with Avenger and Null Zone and Storm Shield

10 man tactical with las canon, flamer and rhino

10 man tactical with rhino, fist, multi melta and melta

5 man tactical with razorback with TL las

Predator with autocannon turret and las sponsons

Ironclad Dread with Heavy flamer

land raider crusader with Extra armor and multi melta

5 assault terminators as pictured

5 Legion of the Damned with Meltagun and Plasma Cannon

First some background on Stanton. I met him two years ago when I transferred to this school. He ran an after school club where his kids painted roman gladiator type models and played a game with them in an arena. He is also the creator of a game called Gnome Wars, which is sort of like 40k, but way less relaxed on the rules part.  Leprechauns are an army for example, and throw pumpkins for grenades.  

So it was easy for Stanton to jump into 40k when he started coming around my room and seeing me messing with my Blood Angels and working on projects. This year our plan was simple. Take a total 40k nooby with wargaming experience, and turn him into a tournament contender.  First of all I made him a competitive list drawing on units he liked from the SM Codex. I would never suggest some one jump into 40k and not play models he liked after all!  He liked the termies and chaplain so those were a no brainer, but he very much liked the damned based on some pics he found over at Dark Future Games blog. By the way his LoD are without a doubt the sexiest I have ever seen.  

Jim liked my furioso and wanted to play one and we filled out his army with effective units, an ac/las pred and tactical squads with transports. By no means is this list an over the top uber list, but I know I could take it to a tournament and win games with it.  Plus it was straight forward and reduced his tactical options to just a couple. Aim the Land Raider, send it forth, and shoot the crap out of any thing that can destroy it.  Have the Damned meet up the termies on the other side. Simple!

Before painting his Ultramarines, he had never painted a 40k model. His first attempt was an assault squad, which he sprayed with a bad batch of blue primer and got the dreaded sand paper effect.  Fail.  But with some direct tutorial by me, he was able to get his army ship shape!  Notice the red tabbards on the Sergeants. What kind of mentor would I be without influencing him into painting at least some red on his marines. :)  The rest is pure Stanton.  He decided early that he wanted to go with an extreme highlight approach. I showed him different styles online, and on my own work. I showed him my original extreme highlights, and my more recent "wet blended" stuff that has very few highlights at all.  He wanted to take my approach and master the touch needed to edge first, then work into blending and shading. 

The biggest difference he noticed right from the start was the incredible difference in level of detail between 40k models and the gladiator models he was painting before.  Even basic space marine troops are heavily detailed.  It took him some time to accept the idea that the better he wants to be, the more he will have to pick out every detail.  We practiced on some Black Reach marines. He would paint some, and I would at the same time, then we would compare.  I could use my examples to correct his painting and improve his work which drastically reduced the learning curve.  

From there I showed him hand painting techniques for his Ultra symbols, and other techniques like painting bone and parchment and blammo!  Welcome to 40k Stanton!  

But that was only part of it.  I also had to teach him how to play. For incentive, I made him sign up for a singles tournament that happened last weekend.  Due to the mass amounts of snow days, we had little time to prep him though. All I managed to do was get him on a table and teach him the basic mechanics of 40k. WS, BS, etc.  Then we were off to the tournament!

Before it started we had a little time so I spent two hours going over some advanced tactics, and possible responses to varied armies. Playing against Tau is a different game than playing against Blood Angels after all. Then it was game time!

In his first game he landed against a tough opponent with a good Blood Angels army. My buddy Bill!  Who proceeded to table him in just a few turns.  But thats ok. Jim learned a lot in defeat and would luckily be at the bottom of the heap for round two.

Then he drew a newer Tau player.  Game on.  I did not get a chance to watch most of the game, but from what I saw, his Legion of the Damned sgt accounted for no less than 44 dead fish heads.  His Land Raider got popped in the middle of the table and the termies drew most of the fire, while the damned went on a rampage.  Not long later, Stanton had his first 40k win and a life time record of 1-1. Not bad man.  

Going into game three he wound up vs a Black Templar army played by a fairly experienced opponent. Jim was in for a fight. But following the basic 40k tactics I showed him he managed to pull out a win!  2-1 lifetime.  Fantastic!  So he went to his first tournament, played his first 3 full games of 40k ever, placed 6th overall, and got 2nd best sportsman.  Not a bad day at all.  

I have to say that I was pretty proud. He scored very well in painting, and on the tables.  Now Fritz is in real trouble. I don't even need to try to corral him on the tables any more. I can let my padawan take care of my light work while I go for tougher prey. :)  

Jawaballs

Rediscovering Angels #7: The Predators

Hello there boyz and girlz!  What's happening.  Xaereth here again from Delusions of Grandeur, hoping to help give you ideas and thoughts on how Blood Angels can work for you.  Today I want to talk a little bit about some models that are close to lots of people's hearts:  Predators.  It's a somewhat tricky matter to talk about them, since I know that many people are completely sold on them already, but hopefully we can discuss this objectively, and figure out the best way to play them :)

The Types

So, I'm reasonably sure we all know by now which Blood Angels pred loadouts are the most popular.  But, for the random new guy reading here, let's talk about each one real quick.

Autocannon Turret, Las Cannon Sponsons

This is 'the' heavy support Predator.  Weighing in at 135 points, this guy has two S7 shots, and two S9 AP2 shots.  It's fast, and as such can move 6" and fire all heavy weapons.  People tend to think it's a big deal.

'Standard' Baal Predator

This is a Fast Attack choice, with an Assault Cannon and two Heavy Bolter Sponsons.  It's 145 points, and can move and shoot it's weapons well too.  Also of note, it can make a scout move or outflank if it so desires.  The scout move is better with its variant.

Flamestorm Baal Predator

This guy is cool, it can tote a S6 AP3 flamer, move 18" on it's scout move, and shoot after having moved 12".  Alpha strikes vs. longfangs can really hurt your opponent if they deploy stoopidly (lol).  115 points isn't much for an AV13 vehicle who kills marines without a thought.

Other Variants

Um... there aren't any.  Well, there are, but really seriously, you don't want anything to do with them.  For 180 points you can have three las cannons on a predator.  Or you can have a dakka pred with almost no impact on the game for 30 points more than your SM pals.  Neither is worth it in my opinion.  180 points is a ton of points to pay for three las cannons that can be glanced into silence.  The above builds are the ones we want to look at, from a competitive point of view.

Alright, now that the newbfest is over, lets talk about how effective they are in the field!

I'm kind of a math guy when I approach games.  It probably has to do with my stint as a poker player for a while after Iraq, but now I'm forever haunted by the fact that I can't play a game that involves numbers without trying to figure out probabilities.  As such, my first approach to Preds is a math approach.

So, let's do some maths for the AC/LC pred vs. Tanks, since that's what it's tooled for (though it can do well against some heavy infantry as well).  Shooting all 4 shots at a rhino, you're going to wreck or explode it a whopping 43% of the time, assuming it isn't getting cover.  To immobilize it, you're over 50%.  Against a Chimera, wrecking/exploding it is about 28.6%, and to immobilize it or better is in the mid 30's.

Conclusion:  It takes 2 Predators to reliably disable a rhino (assuming no smoke) and three Predators to reliably disable a Chimera.  From a math standpoint.  We all know what can happen when we roll hot.  Or terribly.

Alright, let's do the maths for a Baal Predator w/ Assault Cannon/Heavy Bolters.  Against T4 (shooting all weapons), 5.6 wounds will be caused.  This means about 2 marines will die, or 3 orks in cover.  Against a Rhino, you've got about 18% to wreck/destroy it with the assault cannon, closer to 30% to immobilize it or better (though ironically, the exact same percentage to do the same to AV12)

Conclusion:  It takes 3 'Standard' Baal Predators to kill half a marine squad in a single turn (or a longfang squad).  It takes 3 'Standard' Baal Predators to reliably disable a Rhino or Chimera.

Now we know what they can do.  I'd say for it's points, so far the Baal slightly outweighs the AC/LC Pred.  Keep in mind that the Flamestorm Baal is so variable I don't want to do math for it, since there are too many scenarios to try to do it justice.

One thing I haven't mentioned much (as if I really need to, lol) is that Predators are all AV13 in the front, and that you can take 6 total Preds if you want.  This is what the internets loves about Predators in Blood Angels, the spammability of AV13.  Many people view AV13 spam as a step lower (but cheaper) than AV14 spam.  I have to posit that it is nowhere in the league of spamming AV14, however.  Sure, it's tough to pen the front armor with shooting, but Predators are vulnerable to assault in ways that Land Raiders really really aren't.

Another weakness I must point out (since we're trying to be objective) is the one that all tanks suffer from:  suppressing fire.  If our pred sustains even a little damage, the odds are that it will be completely unusable in our next shooting phase.  This is a weakness that is not shared with ground-pounding shooty squads (such as Devastators).

So, let's say we want 6 Preds.  How much would that run us?  840 points is the damage, coming just under 800 if we want to swap out 'Standard' Baals for Flamestorm (we generally don't).  This isn't a terrible pricetag, though I have to point out to you that certain armies will be able to glance every single predator of yours on turn 1.  Space Wolves come to mind, being able to split longfang firepower, as do Guard, Tau, (Necrons? lol) and a bunch of random shooty lists.

It's really your call- Blood Angels generally need some sort of suppressing firepower, and they all have their shortcomings.  Devastators can shoot but can't stay with our army.  Preds can stay with our army, but can be glanced into submission.  Attack bikes can be insta-deathed.  Gotta pick your poison.  Preds are certainly not a bad choice.

So instead of quibbling over if they're a bad choice or good, let's discuss what types of lists could benefit from the use of Predators.

Pure Jump Troops

AC/LC- Yes
Baal 'Standard'- No
Baal Flamestorm- No

These guys can really benefit from the AC/LC, in order to pop the tanks before the jumpers get to them.  I said no to the Baals because Jump Troops already rock against troops as it is.  Another thing to keep in mind is that tanks of any kind (except Land Raiders, oddly enough) will be somewhat out of place if you plan on making full use of Decent of Angels every game.  In that case, I'd recommend you find something else (like honor guard w/ melta guns).

One other thing I should point out is that Predators make good walls for your Blood Angels to advance behind.  If you stay close enough behind them, the Jump Troops can generally ensure the charge.  Still, that's a somewhat expensive piece of mobile terrain.  Options are always good to have though.

Mech Gunline

AC/LC- Yes
Baal 'Standard'- Yes
Baal Flamestorm- Sometimes

This list would look something like this:  6x Predators, 4-6x Razorbacks, Librarian OR 3x Land Raiders, 3x Predators, 3x Assault Squads inside Raiders

So, lots of hard to deal with armor, and lots of shooting.  The troops won't be as good in combat (as in, not good at all) and the Baal 'Standard' will help out with taking out troops.  I said the Flamestorm sometimes, because of alpha strike capabilities.  I'll talk about that a little bit at the end.

Mixed Randomness

Well, this list could be anything.  I've been more and more under the impression that Blood Angels need to pick one thing and do it well- either pure mech or pure foot.  Mixing the two isn't to be advised.  In that case, whereas the preds might help this type of list, I would advise against it in a competitive setting.

Some Tricks to make your Preds better:

• Remember your scout moves.  They can be a lifesaver.  Remember them, even if it's to move them 1" and pop smoke, since you're allowed to do that.
• Building on the first tip, pop smoke at the start of the game, and use them as mobile cover for the rest of your force.  You can start with a solid 4+ cover on everything in your army if you do it right.
• Remember outflanking with Baal Predators.  They aren't super likely to pop a tank on side armor (no matter what the internets tells you, it's less than 40% to wreck a chimera), but they can still cause mayhem.  Throwing a wrench in your opponent's battle plan is usually worth it.
• Remember to set up so that you can alpha strike with your flamestorm against footslogging armies.  You'll need it against wolves especially.
• Tank shock and 18" ram can be amazing.  I rarely see people tank shocking their enemies, and it surprises me.  AV13 + 5 (for moving 15"+) + 1 (for tank) is a S9 hit, that ignores smoke and hits in the movement phase.  Plus, leadership on combat squads is only 8- may as well try.
• Armies that have lots of footsloggers (like orks w/ kan wall) can be stalled for a turn by boosting your preds at them and turning them sideways.  The goal isn't to keep the preds alive, but rather to keep them from advancing on you for a turn, while you deal with the rest of their army.

Flamestorm Alpha Strike

Well, I'm sure I overplayed how cool this is.  It's going to be anticlimatic now.  Here's the gist of it though:  Turn 1, you move 18" with your flamestorm if you get first turn, and turn 2, you move 12" and flamer a squad out in the open.  Lots of times this will be Devastators/Longfangs, but sometimes it'll be extremely awesomesauce against Loganwing or to a lesser extent against jump pack Blood Angels.  It's worth remembering though- if you run a pred-heavy army, you're going to hate those missile launchers.

Another option is to drive in and position your flamestorm next to an enemy transport.  If you can pop it that turn, you can fry the inhabitants.  Muhahaha

What do you think?  How do you run your Preds?

And here's a question:  how do you pronounce 'Baal'?

Option 1:  BALL
Option 2:  BALE

Let me know.  I always pronounced as Option 2, but the guys at my LGS pronounce it Option 1.  That's why you have all the ball pictures this time.  Baal spam, lolz.  Like my Razorspam wasn't enough. 

Anyways, catch ya later!

As a sidenote, I just quit my job because of a scholarship I just got and... hopefully I'll be posting more now that there's more time, both here, and on my 'main' blog.  If you haven't checked it out, feel free :)  Peace!